Bistro Soori

Here it is, the kitchen of a Chef who made a come-back to the culinary scene... I am happy to start off this blog relishing the great meal I had earlier. As I'd updated in my fb status, I experienced a series of gastronomical orgasms at Bistro Soori, all thanks to Chef Jimmy Chok, who recently opened this swanky diner after a 5 years hiatus. After his last restaurant 'Salt' shut its doors, Chef Chok hid away from public and busied with conducting cooking classes, publishing cookbooks and catering to exclusive private dining. Boy, am I glad he came back!

When I first arrived, I was welcomed at the door by him. I knew he served the guests, took their orders and personally cooked the dishes, but to open the door, I was a little surprised, though a pleasant one. In fact, for the whole time we were there, he served each course to all his guests personally. His waitstaff only removed the plates and cutlery. Talk about someone who sees to everything! That's personalised service for you!

You can order from the ala carte menu, but we decided on omakase style for he knows best for his diners. I could barely wait.

His style is fusion, that of nouvelle presentation. The first course was sweet jelly, apple compote with foie gras shavings. Simply delightful... Though there was only shavings of foie gras, the taste was still intense, mixed with the jelly and apple compote, it was a refreshing combination, and it was to be eaten with a chinese metal spoon.

On closer look...

The next dish was something I was looking forward to all day... the scallop carpaccio with yuzu miso! Oh my god! The scallops were sweet and fresh.

He was definitely generous with the scallop slices, which were nicely doused in yuzu sauce. What I liked about his food is the wonderful taste of balance, nothing too overpowering, and everything just crafted together nicely.

Up came 2 main courses... We had the Norwegian salmon first. Now this was divine.

I usually hate cooked salmon, but this one was different. This small chunk of salmon was cooked at 55 degrees celsius for 60 mins. This resulted in the salmon having an extremely soft texture, mixed with the refreshing fusion sauce, fresh mushrooms and fried olive bits, this dish got even the jaded foodie in us really refreshed.

The second dish was roast beef. I liked that 2 different types of beef were served, with some mashed potato at the side.

One seemed like a tenderloin and the other, a brisket or the cheek. The cheek/brisket was infused with truffles and it just literally melted in our mouth. That was an orgasmic experienced. All four of us diners went 'hmmm' and everyone stopped talking. One of my friends said 'Don't disturb me, this is my private moment with my beef!' I tried to prolong and savour every moment too and sadly, the entire process lasted only 12 mins at most.

Because we were such great diners, Chef Chok rewarded us with the lamb with hoisin sauce. The lamb was done just nice, with nice shade of pink and just enough fats.

Finally, the desserts...

It was something pretty simple, yet a perfect way to end the 5-course meal. A humble looking steamed vanilla pudding was served with salted caramel and vanilla ice cream. Although it was humble and basic in looks, the overall flavour, texture and aroma came beautifully together. We went all quiet again. What was even more pleasant was the discovery of freshly roasted peanut bits at the bottom of the pudding towards the end. Chef Chok sure knows how to deliver a punch, even at the final stage.

We were the last to leave the restaurant feeling extremely pleased and wanting more and didn't have that 'gelak' feeling usually associated with a heavy course. I will definitely be back.

Bistro Soori

2 Teck Lim Road

Tel: (65) 6438 3802

Closed on Sundays